Narrogin Agricultural Show full steam ahead with festivities to raise mental health awareness following fires

Preparations for the 116th Narrogin Agricultural Show are well under way, with this year’s festivities set to be themed around creating awareness for mental health in the bush as the region continues its recovery after February’s devastating bushfires. Last year’s highly anticipated October show attracted hundreds of locals and visitors from around the southern Wheatbelt after the 2020 festival was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. NAS secretary Vicki Chadwick said this year’s show — to be held on October 15 — would be themed around raising awareness for mental health in the wake of the devesting February bushfires. It comes after the Wheatbelt was ravaged by bushfires on February 6, with the Shackleton-Corrigin and Narrogin-Wickepin blazes razing more than 60,000ha, destroying machinery, fences, buildings and killing thousands of livestock. “We are promoting mental health because of the bushfires that happened earlier in the year and to just raise awareness for mental health generally,” Ms Chadwick said. “I think it’s a good event for families and friends to spend some time together and have a fun day out. “It’s also a good opportunity to break away from all the underlying challenges and have something good to look forward to.” The show will also incorporate the Indigenous word for second spring, kambarang, to tie into the time of year. Ms Chadwick said livestock owners would be taking all their usual precautions, especially given the threat of foot-and-mouth disease on Australia’s livestock industry. She said at this stage they were confident the disease would not affect the show in October. “We do have sheep here but they comply with all the rules and regulations,” she said. “They do a foot bath and all of that when they take the sheep home and they have to complete a National Vendor Declaration for the agriculture department so they know where they have travelled to and from. “We will just have sheep and McDonalds petting zoo which might have a few cloven-hoofed animals.” The annual show is expected to have all the regular rides and attractions plus a few new additions, such as skydivers and a climbing wall. To help fund the free-activities and build community connection, Agricultural Region MLC Shelley Payne presented the Narrogin Agriculture Society with a $15,000 Lotterywest grant last week. “Agricultural shows are important in regional communities like Narrogin because they provide a unique opportunity for locals to get together and celebrate the attributes that make the community a great place to live,” Ms Payne said. “I’m so pleased that, with the help of Lotterywest, the Narrogin Agricultural Show will have free activities for kids this year. “It will ensure this major event on the Narrogin calendar is accessible to more families than ever before.”